No Catholic endorsement for Darwin: Austrian cardinal

Vienna Cardinal Christophe Schonborn says that while the Church rejects
creationism he wants to correct a misconception that the Church has
given a blanket endorsement to Darwinian evolution theories.

The International Herald Tribune
reports that in a Wednesday lecture Cardinal Schonborn said that
restricting debate about Darwin's theory of evolution amounts to
censorship in schools and in the broader public.

He said he
found it "amazing" that a US federal court ruled in 2005 that a
Pennsylvania public school district could not teach the concept of
"intelligent design" as part of its science class.

The judge
had said that the theory, which says an intelligent supernatural force
explains the emergence of complex life forms, was creationism in
disguise.

The Cardinal said the ruling meant that schoolchildren
would only be taught a materialistic, atheistic view of the origin of
universe, without considering the idea that God played a role.

"A truly liberal society would at least allow students to hear of the debate," he said.

He
added that he wants to correct what he calls a widespread misconception
that the Catholic Church has given a blanket endorsement to Darwin's
theories.

The "intelligent design" concept has been promoted
most prominently by the Discovery Institute, a think tank in Seattle.
Asked after the speech if he was endorsing the institute's beliefs,
Schoenborn would say only "listen to my arguments," cautioning that his
views should not be put "in a box."

"I don't belong to any kind of boxes," he said.

Schoenborn
affirmed that the Catholic Church rejects creationism, saying "the
first page of the Bible is not a cosmological treatise about the coming
to be of the world in six days."

He also said that "the
Catholic faith can accept" the possibility that God uses evolution as a
tool. But he said science alone could not explain the origins of the
universe.